Peter Tosh: The Steppin' Razor

Continuing in a Freegalistic vein, this time I take a look at one of the giants of classic (roots) reggae, Peter Tosh.

A founding member of the Wailers (along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer), Winston Hubert Mcintosh was the most outspoken, politically-minded of the trio. Tosh frequently wove scathing condemnations of Jamaica's government, its officials and police in among his live performances of protest songs. Tosh's militancy earned him equally harsh criticism from the Jamaican press during his lifetime, and after an arrest in 1978, he was severely beaten by Kingston police officers. Conflict plagued Tosh throughout his life, leading to his death in 1987 following an argument with an old friend that ended in a shoot-out which left Tosh and six others dead. Even Peter Tosh's solo career began as a result of violence, with his leaving the Wailers after a fist fight with Bob Marley at the end of a major tour of the US and the UK in 1973-74. Tosh signed with Columbia Records as a solo artist in 1975, and his first two releases with the label, Legalise It and Equal Rights are each available for download through Freegal as tremendously expanded "Legacy Editions."

The critically-acclaimed Legalise It (released in 1976) features not only the renowned title song, but also a gentle country/reggae fusion in William Bell's "'Til Your Well Runs Dry," and an update of a tune Tosh originally recorded back in 1971 with Lee 'Scratch' Perry, "Ketchy Shuby." ["Ketchy Shuby" refers to either soccer or sex, depending on your interpretation of rasta patois--either way it’s a fine and funky reggae dance tune.] The Legacy Edition of Legalise It is comprised of the original album, a collection of demo versions, and Tosh's own mix of the record (the version released in Jamaica) along with some dub and alternate takes. Obviously at three downloads a week, grabbing all 32 tracks on this edition of Legalise It would be challenging, so I'd suggest starting off with the aforementioned tunes. The demo version of "'Till Your Well Runs Dry" (track #15) is perhaps the standout cut here, using a more distant-sounding (that is, reverb-drenched) vocal which brings out the percussive groove in the song much more clearly. The extended dub mix of “Legalise It” is an entertaining track, while “Ketchy Shuby” is best captured in the original album version. [Freegal doesn't offer much in the way of track information here, so remember that the first 9 cuts are the original LP, followed by 7 demo mixes, the 9 Tosh mixes, an alternate take of the title track, and 6 dub versions to close the record.]

The follow-up to his debut success, Equal Rights, is an album charged by political and social protest. Opening with Tosh's hard-hitting version of "Get Up, Stand Up," a call to political activism originally recorded with the Wailers, the album progresses through a lengthy meditation on police brutality in "Downpressor Man," a pair of personal manifestos in “Stepping Razor” and the title track, a funky meditation on pan-African unity ("African"), and closes with a stirring call to fight "Apartheid." Overall I'd argue that Equal Rights is a superior effort to Legalise It (although many music critics would probably not agree), and is certainly a more faithful introduction to Peter Tosh's musical style in general than the often light-hearted songs on Legalise It.

The Legacy Edition of Equal Rights is again perhaps more than most Freegalistas can digest (30 selections here), but it also features many more choice rarities for the Tosh fan. The original album runs through the first 8 tracks on this edition, while tracks 9-15 are all outtakes from those recording sessions. One of the most noteworthy of these outtakes is a re-recording of "400 Years" which features some excellent lead guitar by Al Anderson ("400 Years" was originally cut with the Wailers). At the very end of the Legacy edition is a fantastic longer take of "Get Up, Stand Up," which is marked by still more of Tosh's sermons on justice and some cool effects in the mix. Much like the demo versions on Legalise It, the alternate mixes here tend to have a lot more reverb in their vocals, leaving the groove more prominent in each song. In some cases Tosh and his engineers got a little lost in their mix--the dub version of "Heavy Razor" is so saturated with reverb it sounds like it was recorded in an empty warehouse. There is also a much extended alternate mix of "Apartheid" (re-titled "Fight Apartheid"), which really brings out the anthemic qualities of this wonderful song. A truly excellent song that should've been included on the initial release, "Hammer" (featured here in its full-length mix on track #10), is a good place to start freegally downloading Equal Rights. If I had to choose just three songs from Equal Rights, I'd go with the longer mix of "Get Up, Stand Up," the album version of "Downpressor Man," and "(Fight) Apartheid," but I'd probably go right back to the well of equal rights the following week for "African."

Note: Freegal offers both the original and Legacy editions of each album as separate entries, so look before you click.  Clicking on the Legacy Edition album titles above should link you directly to Freegal's listings.

Another Note: For more on Tosh's life, you can click here to reserve a copy of Steppin' Razor: The Life of Peter Tosh, a biography by John Masouri.  We only have audio book editions of this work (and to be honest I don't entirely agree with some of Masouri's judgements regarding Tosh's life), but it is an easy place to start.